{"id":7506,"date":"2022-03-24T03:35:35","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T20:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/?p=7506"},"modified":"2022-03-24T08:08:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T01:08:07","slug":"explore-inside-austin-community-colleges-dental-hygiene-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/explore-inside-austin-community-colleges-dental-hygiene-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Explore Inside Austin Community College\u2019s Dental Hygiene\u00a0Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Explore Inside Austin Community College\u2019s Dental Hygiene Program\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zAohMaKnIGA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Video and story by Gloria Nguyen<br>Edited by Pete Ramirez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Dental hygiene is a growing field and in high demand in Austin.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the goal of producing competent entry-level dental hygiene professionals to meet the market requirements, Austin Community College\u2019s Dental Hygiene program strives to provide future dental hygienists with the best education and training program in town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ACC\u2019s Dental Hygiene program is proud to be accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation &#8211; the national programmatic accrediting agency for dental and dental-related education programs at the post-secondary level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Students accepted into this program work with faculty who hold an average of 26 years of experience working in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the main reasons for the recent growth of dental hygiene is the high pay grade. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indeed.com\/career\/dental-hygienist\/salaries\/TX\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.indeed.com\/career\/dental-hygienist\/salaries\/TX\">Indeed<\/a>, the average base salary for dental hygienists in Austin is $39.22 per hour.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of our students can be independent financially just by working part-time,\u201d Professor Sima Sohrabi, the clinic coordinator of the program, said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe pay is very compatible with engineers, but it takes only two years for our students to be able to work,\u201d Sohrabi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImaget6LesR-892x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7507\" width=\"630\" height=\"723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImaget6LesR-892x1024.jpg 892w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImaget6LesR-261x300.jpg 261w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImaget6LesR-768x881.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImaget6LesR-1339x1536.jpg 1339w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImaget6LesR-1785x2048.jpg 1785w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImaget6LesR-1200x1377.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><figcaption><em>Sima Sohrabi, the clinic coordinator of the program, poses in front of the administration desk.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sohrabi also mentioned that usually her students start looking for jobs before they graduate. By the time they graduate, they already have job offers lined up. One of the biggest hurdles for the students in the process is obtaining their license.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The license pass rate for students in the program so far is 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ACC\u2019s Dental Hygiene program is highly selective. \u201cThere are about 80-100 applicants per year, but we only take 18,\u201d Sohrabi said. \u201cLots of students couldn\u2019t get in on their first try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be qualified for admission, applicants are required to get a minimum Test of Essential Academic Skills score of 58.7 on both the Reading and English sections of the exam.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOn a scale of ten, I\u2019ll give the hard level of that exam a six,\u201d Christina Marie Kumar, a first-year student in ACC\u2019s Dental Hygiene program, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"755\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImagecpkETm.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7508\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImagecpkETm.jpg 755w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/157\/2022\/03\/tempImagecpkETm-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" \/><figcaption><em>First-year student Christina Marie Kumar prepares to see her patients. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kumar was accepted into this program on her first attempt. Sharing about her experience, she underlines the importance of studying actively.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s important to fully understand the subject matter of the exam and your testing style,\u201d Kumar said. \u201cThen, I\u2019ll do a self-assessment. How confident do I feel with the Reading and English sections?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because the program is compressed into two years instead of four, the course schedule is tight.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis semester in particular, my schedule is Monday through Thursday,\u201d Kumar said. \u201cMonday, Wednesday, and Thursday are clinic days. Those are days I\u2019ll be seeing patients in the clinic. And the rest are lecture days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen you hear about dental hygienists, you automatically think of teeth, but we\u2019re so much more than that,\u201d Kumar said. \u201cThere are so many people who come to the dentist when they\u2019re in pain. I get to see these people and assess things like blood pressure and cancer screening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ACC\u2019s Dental Hygiene program also offers good-quality dental services to patients. \u201cWhen patients come here, they get a head and neck cancer screening, extraoral and intraoral screening, dental X-ray and a very thorough teeth cleaning,\u201d Sohrabi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sohrabi explained that after coming through the screening process, patients will be assigned to students based on their scale level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Patients can get complete cleaning with everything included for as low as $20. More deep and complex cleaning, if needed, is $40.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Patients are required to have a flexible schedule. They should have time in their schedule for three to five appointments that are three hours in length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need time to do faculty checks, paper work, and they\u2019re still students,\u201d Sohrabi said. \u201cBut consider the fee, it\u2019s worth spending time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ACC\u2019s Dental Hygiene program is currently accepting patients. The department is located at Eastview Campus, 3101 Webberville Road, building 8000. Call (512) 223 \u2013 5710 to find out more and schedule your first appointment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dental hygiene is a growing field and in high demand in Austin. With the goal of producing competent entry-level dental hygiene professionals to meet the market requirements, Austin Community College\u2019s Dental Hygiene program strives to provide future dental hygienists with the best education and training program in town. ACC\u2019s Dental Hygiene program is proud to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4103,"featured_media":7513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1135,6,12],"tags":[38,100,1351,1347,1346,1353,1355,1251,223,1348,1239,1349,1195,1350,1356,1352],"class_list":["post-7506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","category-career","category-news","tag-acc","tag-austin-community-college","tag-christina-marie-kuma","tag-commission-on-dental-accreditation","tag-dental-hygiene-program","tag-dental-services","tag-dental-x-ray","tag-dentistry","tag-eastview-campus","tag-education-program","tag-gloria-nguyen","tag-indeed","tag-pete-ramirez","tag-sima-sohrabi","tag-teeth-cleaning","tag-test-of-essential-academic-skills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}